Tag: Diplomatic relations

President Muhammadu Buhari and his Republic of Benin counterpart, Patrice Talon, will, on Tuesday, perform the official handover of the new Economic Community of West African States Border Posts at Seme-Krake and Neope-Akanu in Badagry.

The Lagos State Government said on Sunday that all necessary arrangements to ensure a hitch-free unveiling ceremony had been firmed up, while Buhari would be accompanied to the venue by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.

According to the government, the President will be received at the airport by the governor, while the duo will thereafter proceed to the venue.

“Already, all necessary security and logistics arrangements have been firmed up by the state government in partnership with relevant federal government agencies.

“To this effect, the Lagos State Government is soliciting the usual support and cooperation of residents throughout the visit,” it said in a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Gov. Akinwumi Ambode.

President Muhammadu Buhari and British Prime Minister Theresa May witness Nigeria’s Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Hajia Zainab Ahmed; and British Minister of State for Trade Policy, George Hollingbery, sign a Bilateral Agreement on Nigeria Trade Development during May’s visit to the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Wednesday. NAN photo

Nigeria and the British Government signed Bilateral Agreement on Defence and Security Partnership during the visit of the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, to the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Wednesday.

See the photographs, courtesy, News Agency of Nigeria and Buhari Sallau via Instagram:

President Muhammadu Buhari and British Prime Minister Theresa May watch as Nigerian National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno; and British Deputy National Security Adviser, Christian Turner, sign Bilateral Agreement on Defence and Security Partnership during May’s visit to the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Wednesday. NAN photoBuhari welcomes the Britons to Aso Rock. IG photo by Buhari SallauPresident Buhari and his guests. Photo: Buhari Sallau

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday sought improved ties with English-speaking Africa, setting out a plan for closer cooperation with Nigeria to tackle security challenges and promote a new vision of the continent back home.

Macron arrived in the capital, Abuja, from Mauritania, where he met leaders on the sidelines of the final day of the African Union summit that was dominated by security issues in the Sahel.

After talks with President Muhammadu Buhari, Macron said he was “really emotional” to be back in the city where he spent six months as an intern at the French embassy in the early 2000s.

“I’m extremely delighted to be back,” he told a joint news conference at the presidential villa, joking that he had never expected to return as head of state.

Since coming to power the 40-year-old leader has made a point of boosting ties with France’s former colonies but also improving trade with anglophone countries.

He visited Ghana last year and Nigeria — Africa’s economic powerhouse and the continent’s leading oil producer — was the next logical step.

Nigeria, a country home to over 180 million people, produces nearly two million barrels of crude oil per day and is a key economic partner for France.

“France wants to do much more with Nigeria,” he told Buhari, promising France’s “full support”.

In Nouakchott, Macron held talks with the leaders of the French-backed five-nation military force fighting Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists in the Sahel.

Niger and Chad, where France has a sizeable military presence, are part of the “G5 Sahel” group, which has faced a rise in attacks in recent days.

They are also members of a five-nation regional force tackling Boko Haram in Nigeria’s remote northeast.

Nine years of violence have killed at least 20,000 people and forced more than 2.6 million others homeless, triggering a humanitarian emergency in the wider Lake Chad area.

Macron noted links between Al-Qaeda-linked groups in the Sahel, and Boko Haram and Islamic State group-backed jihadists operating around Nigeria’s northern borders.

It was important to act together, with African countries in the lead, to stop a conflagration, he added.

“The challenge for us is to manage the conflicts… and stop them joining together,” he added.

But he also said it was important to stop people joining in the first place and sketched out plans to increase economic, cultural and sporting ties to provide better opportunities.

Buhari, who maintains Boko Haram is a spent force despite continuing attacks, said he backed the plan and appreciated France’s help with Nigeria’s francophone neighbours.

“I’m very grateful to France for the support we have been getting,” he added.

Nigeria is currently gripped by a resurgence of violence between nomadic cattle herders and farmers, which has claimed some 1,000 lives since January this year.

Amnesty International last week said some 1,813 people have been killed in all types of violence since the start of 2018.

That has put former military ruler Buhari, 75, under pressure as he looks towards securing a second term at elections in February next year.

– Homage at the Shrine –
From Abuja, Macron headed to Lagos — Nigeria’s teeming megacity of 20 million people in the southwest — to focus more on the thriving artistic and cultural scene.

He was expected to officially launch the African Cultural Season which takes place in France in 2020, at an event showcasing music, fashion, cinema and theatre.

He said the aim was to show “contemporary African culture unknown in France” and elsewhere in Europe.

The choice of location — the Shrine concert venue of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti — is a surprise for many Nigerians given its association with the anti-establishment musician.

No elected president is believed to have officially visited the spiritual home of the so-called “Black President”, which is more synonymous with marijuana smoke and gyrating dancers than diplomatic niceties.

Workers were seen repairing the potholed approaches to the ramshackle venue in preparation for Macron’s arrival, as the Lagos state authorities shut down roads as a security precaution.

Macron revealed he had been to the Shrine before for a concert by Fela Kuti’s son, Femi. “It’s an incredible, vibrant place,” he said.

Fela Kuti was jailed under Buhari’s military government in the 1980s but the civilian president made no mention of the incident, saying only the visit was “a very good idea”.

The Chinese ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Zhou Pingjian, has expressed intention to enrol as a student into the Institute of African and Asian Studies at the University of Calabar.

Pingjian disclosed this on Thursday at the university’s International Conference Centre where he presented scholarships valued at N100,000 each to 47 students of the institution.

The ambassador, who explained that the scholarship programme would be an annual event, noted that being a part of UNICAL will avail him the opportunity to share China’s success story while learning more about Africa.

He further said the event was to commemorate 47 years of diplomatic relations between Nigeria and China.

On the choice of UNICAL, he said it was based on feasibility and honest leadership, adding that it is among the leading second-generation university in Nigeria.

He said, “The vice-chancellor wants this programme to be annually, but as Chinese ambassador, I want to give him and the management team one condition — I want to send application to be a member of the Institute of African and Asian Studies of the university.

“We have very good reasons to be here annually. From when this university started in the ’70s, from the records I have, it was founded with only about 800 students, but today, the number has grown to over 40,000. This is just one of the many achievements of this institution.

“The vice-chancellor knows so much about China and so we chose UNICAL to mark 47 years of Nigeria-China relations because of the honesty of the leadership and its feasibility.

UNICAL is a leading second generation university in Nigeria; so, I’m impressed with the achievements so far.”

Earlier, the vice-chancellor, Prof. Zana Akpagu, commended the Chinese ambassador for choosing the institution for the event.

North and South Korea on Wednesday reopened a cross-border hotline which had been shut down since 2016, forging ahead with peace overtures despite taunts from US President Donald Trump who said he has a “much bigger” nuclear button than Kim Jong-Un.

The hotline was restored at 0630 GMT after Seoul proposed high-level talks in response to an olive branch from the North’s leader, who has offered to send a team to next month’s Winter Olympics in the South.

“The phone conversation lasted 20 minutes,” a South Korean Unification Ministry official told AFP, adding details were not known immediately.

Kim’s overtures to the South marked a rare softening in tone. Tensions have surged in recent months following a flurry of North Korean missile launches and its most powerful nuclear test yet.

Seoul responded with an offer to hold talks on January 9 — the first since 2015 — to discuss “matters of mutual interest” including the North’s Olympic participation.

But Kim’s New Year address also included a warning to the US that he has a “nuclear button” on his table, prompting a furious response from Trump via Twitter.

“North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the ‘Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.’

“Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!” he said.

“Our President is a child. ‘Mine is bigger than yours’ may sound tough on the playground, but this is no juvenile affair. Literally millions of lives are at stake,” tweeted Colin Kahl, a former national security adviser to then Vice-President Joe Biden.

But Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley maintained the tough line, playing down Seoul’s offer to hold talks. These would be a “band-aid” unless denuclearisation was also up for discussion, she said.

US State Department spokesman Heather Nauert also warned that Kim “may be trying to drive a wedge of some sort between the two nations — between our nation and the Republic of Korea (South Korea)”.

But the tentative rapprochement seemed to be moving ahead on Wednesday, with Kim welcoming Seoul’s support for his overtures, according to Ri Son-gwon, the head of North Korea’s agency handling inter-Korean affairs.

– Hotline ‘very significant’ –

The two countries, divided by a Demilitarized Zone since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, last held high-level talks in 2015 to try to ease tensions.

The hotline in the border truce village of Panmunjom remained operational until February 2016. It was shut down when relations worsened over a dispute involving the jointly operated and now closed Kaesong industrial complex.

The Federal Government says it will trim down Nigeria’s membership of over 310 international organisations and associated financial obligations to save the nation from possible financial embarrassment.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, made this known when she addressed State House correspondents on the outcome of the Federal Executive Council sitting, which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday.

According to her, the annual commitment by Nigeria to these organisations stands at $70m.

“Basically, Nigeria is member of 310 international organisations and a committee was set up to review the rationale for our continued membership of such a large number of organisations, particularly in the light of the fact that in many cases, we are not actually paying financial obligations and subscriptions, which is causing some embarrassment to Nigeria and our image abroad.

“It was discussed (at the FEC) that there were commitments made to some international organisations by former government which were not cash-backed,’’ said the minister.

She said the committee set up by the Federal Government to review the nation’s membership of the international organisations had recommended that the country should retain membership of 220 out of the 310 organisations.

However, the minister said the council had directed the committee to further look into their recommendations, with a view to reconciling the conflicting financial figures meant to be paid as subscription fees by Nigeria.

“Our subscriptions are in arrears in a number of major organisations. So, the directive of the council is that we should go and reconcile those figures and come back to the Council and have a payment plan to avoid Nigeria being embarrassed internationally,” Adeosun said. NAN)